Scotland Highlands Road Trip

>>>> Cold, dark and wet up there

It was certainly cold and wet, but being the summer solstice, it wasn't dark at all.  It fact, you could see fine at 11:00 PM and it only started to get dark around 11:30 and by 4:00 AM, the sun was up again.   Can't imagine the reverse in winter.

>>>>Share more photos if you are so inclined

Ardvrek Castle in the northwest Highlands:

Standing Stones on Orkney Island:

Castle Dunvegan on Isle of Skye:

Downtown Portree on Isle of Skye (taken at 11:30 PM):

Orkney Island traffic Jam:

And a Nessie Sighting!  (if this doesn't prove the existence of the mythical beast, I don't know what does):

>>>>Did you "wild camp" as they call it, or stay in campgrounds? 

We ended up just staying in the "caravan parks."   We were playing it by ear with spotty wi-fi and I guess you need to apply online beforehand for permits to "wild camp."  We also couldn't figure out where the bothies were from the websites, but considering the foul weather and our busy days, it was nice to be able to pull up into a "caravan park" at the end of the day, take a hot shower, plug into wi-fi to plan the next days travels, grab a pint at a nearby pub, and sleep in a warm, dry van.  Most of the "caravan parks" we stayed in also had great views, like these:

View from the caravan park on Orkney:

From the park in Durness:

 Very few places are like the western US, where you can just drive down any dirt road in the National Forest and pitch a tent wherever you feel like it.  And considering the rain, wind, and midges (when its not windy), I imagine tent camping in the Highlands would not be really comfortable.   That being said, I did see a tent pitched in a woodland park near Portree and a Slovakian couple we picked up hitchhiking mentioned how they had pitched a tent up on a hill outside Ullapool.   

>>>How were the pubs?

We went to quite a few, both in the cities and in the country.   They had the obligatory snooker tables and some had live music (like the one in Durness) or DJs (like one in Inverness), but the interesting thing was the ales were generally much weaker than what you find in the US.  All the taps are marked with ABV and the majority hovered around 4.4% with some down in the 3.2 range.  The max was generally about 5.5%.  The hardiest brews we found were from Orkney Brewing, which has a "Skull Splitter" coming it at around 8% ABV.  However, you sure got an "honest pint," which runs around £2 - 4 depending on whether you were in the city or in the country.   The pubs were the only place where I had any real problem understanding the locals, with the exception of the caretaker at the caravan park we stayed at on the last night outside Glasgow.   Could only make out about every fourth word and later saw him sitting in his Land Rover with a half empty bottle of vodka.

One of the barmaids at the pub in Durness next to the park also appeared not to understand a word I said and kept messing up my order.  I thought it was because of the Scottish dialect, but I later learned from the Slovokian couple we picked up hitchhiking that the owner of that pub only hires Slovaks because, in his opinion, the Scotts were "lazy."   I guess that will change once Brexit kicks in.  

>>>>How was the Haggis?

I don't eat commercially harvested animal products, but had the vegetarian haggis.  I was a bit underwhelmed.  Just a pile of faux sausage stuffed between a pile of mashed potatoes and mashed turnips.  Not bad, but very much like what I cook at home on day-to-day basis.  The real haggis was on just about every menu I saw and was served up in many different forms and styles.

>>>>DId you try any cool scotch that doesn't get exported to the US? 

Got a couple of bottles of "whisky", but I am not much of a liquor drinker to begin with so not sure if it is stuff you can get over here.  Funny, we did a blind taste test between a more expensive single malt and a cheaper blended type and I actually liked the cheaper one better.  Here is the cheaper bottle that won out: